Yamaguchi Photos

Resource for Grades 2-12

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Media Type:
Video

Running Time: 0m 48s
Size: 18.5 MB

Source: Faces of America: "Yamaguchi Photos"

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Faces of America on VITAL is made possible by The Cola Company.

Funding for Faces of America on PBS was provided by The Coca-Cola Company and Johnson & Johnson. Additional funding was provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Atlantic Philanthropies, and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS.

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In this video from Faces of America, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. speaks with Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi and offers insight into the life of her Japanese ancestors while looking through old family photographs she had never seen before. One photograph is of her grandfather, Tatsuichi Yamaguchi, as a young man. He sent the photo from the United States to his family in Japan almost 100 years ago and they had kept it safe for almost a century. The other photograph examined is one of her grandmother, Tatsuichi’s wife, on the family farm in California with Kristi’s father and two of his siblings.

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Yamaguchi Photos Transcript (Document)

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Discussion Questions

Examine the first photo carefully. Who is present in the photo?
Where did this photo come from? How old is it? Who kept it safe?
Who is present in the second photo? Where are the people located?
What other information can you gather from this photo?
What other questions would you like to ask about the photos presented in the video?

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Transcript

Henry Louis Gates Jr.: This is the photo of your grandfather that your relatives have kept in their home for almost a century. Look at that picture.

Kristi Yamaguchi: Wow, priceless. So this is my grandfather.

Gates: This is your grandfather… He mailed it to his mother from America.

Yamaguchi: She would have been proud, I think.

Gates: Handsome, he’s a handsome guy. And very proud.

Narration: Tatsuichi was the fourth oldest son, so he would never inherit the family farm. Still, it took great courage to leave Ureshino as one of that town’s very first emigrants. He had just turned twenty-one.

Yamaguchi: Tatsuichi Yamaguchi, farmer, permit issued November 11th, 1899.

Gates: Now here’s your grandmother with their three youngest children, including your father, Jim, on the right and behind them you can see their farm in Gilroy, California.

Narration: By 1941, Tatsuichi was farming on 175 acres, hiring workmen and earning a good living for his family of eleven…